AfriGeneas States Research Forum

Mr. Ginsburg,
The preview from your book mentions a W. S. Thompson, of Lakeview Oregon who was lynched in August 1894. Your book implies that he was a black man. He was white. A rancher in an isolated community, the white William Thompson was a rough character when sober, and a terror when drunk. He went on a bender, beat his wife badly, sliced his own horses and cattle with a knife, and got thrown in jail. His neighbors had had enough of him, broke into the jail, and lynched him. This was a bit different from the racially motivated lynchings of the deep south.

Thompson is buried in an unmarked grave in the IOOF cemetery in Lakeview OR.